Brighouse firm to hold third annual monkey bike charity ride for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

RIDERS will get back on their bikes again this year for an annual motorcycle challenge run by a Brighouse firm.

Brighouse insurance company Bankstone will host its Monkey Bike Charity Event for the third year running in July.

A total of 17 riders will travel hundreds of miles on monkey bikes through Yorkshire, navigating a route around famous film locations to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Monkey bikes are low-powered motorcycles first made popular by Honda in the 1970s. They are usually about 50 to 90cc and have a seat height of 24 inches or less, giving the rider a crouched appearance.

The riders will mount their monkey bikes in Brighouse on July 11 and will visit the Piece Hall in Halifax – location for the hit film Brassed Off, then move to on to the Cow and Calf Rocks at Ilkley, used in Calendar Girls.

They will then move on to Aysgarth Falls – a location for Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves, then progress to the Golden Lion at Northallerton, featured in The Way To The Stars.

The riders will make their way to the World of James Herriot Museum at Thirsk, to see the location for TV series All Creatures Great And Small.

They will then head off to Goathland Station, location of train scenes for Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone before going to nearby Whitby Abbey, featured in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Dracula.

The convoy will move on to the Coffee Bean Café in Scarborough, a location in the film Little Voice, before heading off to Castle Howard, near York, famously used as a location for Brideshead Revisited.

The final destination will be Leeds United Stadium at Elland Road in Leeds, used in filming of recent movie The Damned United.

The whole ride will be completed by the afternoon of July 12.

Dickon Tysoe, director of Bankstone, said: “We have our biggest fleet of monkey bikes ever taking part this year and hope to raise a good sum of money to support the life-saving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.”

Among the riders will be Mike McMillan, claims director for BLD Group, a specialist motorcycle accident management company whose repair centre is based in Brighouse.

BLD are supplying one of the support vehicles for the ride.

Mr McMillan said: “BLD are delighted to be involved in this charity event once again.

“Riding a monkey bike is not the easiest thing to do, but the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service is a very worthy cause. I hope that I will attract generous sponsorship, along with the other entrants.”